This invention relates generally to delivering telephone calls based on user supplied profiles or parameters.
A telephone can incorporate a profile feature to customize how calls from certain callers will be handled in given situations. An example would be that a call from a particular person might cause the user""s phone to beep during a meeting, while a call from an unknown individual may be sent to voice mail in the same situation.
The use of the profile feature may enable the user to predetermine how particular calls may be handled. Moreover, calls may be commonly handled in an automated fashion. This increases the ability of the user to manage his or her calls.
Generally, the profile feature cannot determine where the user is at any given time or why the user is not answering his or her phone. Thus, a profile feature merely serves out instructions based on predetermined profile settings supplied by the user. In some cases, the user may fail to update status information. For example, the user may set his telephone on forward to a personal assistant while the user attends a meeting. But then when the user exits from the meeting, the user may forget to redefine his or her user profile. As a result, the user""s calls continue to get forwarded to the personal assistant even though the user may now be available.
Thus, there is a need for ways to further automate the handling of telephone calls.